Five Necessary Technical Skills For Non-Technical Product Managers
I began my career in IT without any technical background. I naively thought that my basic knowledge of computers and internet technologies would be enough to work effectively with developers.
No. Definitely not enough.
Over time, I had to pick up new skills on the fly to better understand technical terms and concepts, especially since my role often required a practical application of that knowledge. I realized that knowing these skills would not only improve communication with my team but also help me make more informed product decisions.
Here are the top five technical skills I’ve mastered that I believe are essential for any non-technical product manager to succeed in their role — or land an even better one.
1. Work with API
This is a highly useful skill for any product manager. Any project I worked on, included building an API or making API integrations with a third party service.
An API (Application Programming Interface) is a set of rules and protocols that allows different software applications to communicate and share data with each other.
There are specific tools like Postman that serve to make API requests and receive responses. Knowledge of the RESTful concept, endpoints and response codes will make your work much easier.
Great free Youtube course:
2. SQL Queries
It is often required that product managers make direct queries into databases for various reasons.
For example, you should be able to quickly see what data is stored in the table, and whether it is sufficient to implement a new feature.
Or, you want to validate a hypothesis on real data without asking the data team for help.
To gain basic familiarity with SQL queries, it is enough to make simple SELECT statements, JOINs, and basic aggregations.
Quick introduction into SQL:
Interactive course: https://sqlbolt.com/
3. Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)
SDLC is the core of software development. It consists of several equally important stages - planning, requirements analysis, design, coding, testing, deployment, maintenance.
As a product manager you will actively participate in some of these stages. Knowing SDLC helps you to set realistic timelines and expectations, as well as identify potential delays and technical bottlenecks.
Introduction to SDLC:
Software Development Lifecycle Specialization at Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/specializations/software-development-lifecycle
4. Git Flow
I can’t say that understanding the basics of Git is 100% essential, but I've encountered it throughout my career.
Developers talk about pull requests, code commits, and merges almost non-stop. To understand the progress on a particular feature, it’s helpful to know the terminology and workflow—especially when the development board integrates with the code repository.
Also, you’ll need to understand Git flow if you want to try your hand at development.
Git tutorial for beginners:
Learn Git & GitHub on Codeacademy: https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-git
5. HTML and CSS Basics
It is good if you have basic understanding of HTML and CSS skills at least to make basic edits using the inspection tool in the browser.
This knowledge, together with understanding of such concepts as desktop and mobile layout, responsiveness becomes valuable when discussing UI elements or understanding design constraints.
Knowledge of HTML and CSS allows you to quickly check or correct minor visual errors on a webpage, assists in A/B testing, and is useful for UX/UI research.
HTML & CSS for beginners:
HTML tutorial on W3 Schools: https://www.w3schools.com/html/
Additional Resources
Introduction to Material Design https://protoio.medium.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-material-design-b2664ec9a0ce
Web Service vs. API https://blog.hubspot.com/website/web-services-vs-api
Introduction to microservices https://medium.com/microservicegeeks/an-introduction-to-microservices-a3a7e2297ee0
What is Amazon Web Services: An Ultimate Guide https://www.simplilearn.com/tutorials/aws-tutorial/what-is-aws
CI/CD vs. DevOps: Key Differences https://codefresh.io/learn/ci-cd-concepts/ci-cd-vs-devops-key-differences-and-how-they-work-together/
What is Zapier? https://dorik.com/blog/what-is-zapier